Doctor Who: The Claws Of Axos (Story 57) - Special Edition

This is not only a good Doctor Who story but has been released with a spectacularly fine transfer from the original recordings. Studio images look almost Blu-Ray-like (contrasting sharply with the 16 mm film images recorded in the field.)Special features are also excellent and include worthy extras on Disc 2.Especially interesting to me is a 73-minute straight playback of studio recordings, showing the breaks, film cut-ins and retakes in real time. This provides an insight on how Claws of Axos was directed and recorded - a different procedure here than in most earlier Doctor Who stories.As is usual with the special edition releases, there is a good audio commentary track and an explanatory subtitle track. These can be run independently or together, although the latter requires good concentration to follow the two separate threads. (I back-track occasionally to pick up a missed comment.)This is about the best Doctor Who reissue I've seen - highly recommended.

More earth-bound Third Doctor scrapes with a very large interstellar alien neuron. Jo Grant assists. Typical of the Pertwee era, there are jabs at British bureaucracy and, of course, the shoot-first mentality of the military. Fine casting backs the satire admirably. Fine casting includes the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Captain Yates, and the excellent Roger Delgado Master. Decent sets. F/X, and so on, but the real pleasure is Pertwee's delightfully egoistic overacting. He was a fine choice. Recommended - oh yes, yes indeed.

Great series. Don't hesitate to buy from the overseas buyer. Get yourself a region-free DVD player and enjoy the episodes you can't get from the US.

This is an intersting Third Doctor tale starring Jon Pertwee first broadcast between 13 March and April 3 1971.Beware of Greeks bearing Gifts is the old saying, but in this case it is the Autons, with a material called Axonite which brings with it the promise of solving all the earth's problems of food shortages.Before you know it of course, there is more to it than that and soon the Axon plot is uncovered. The Master too, has a role to play as the two-faced, double-crossing, Timelord wriggles from his situation as a captive of the Axons and ultimately makes good his escape.The Axons, similar to the Autons as part of a single entity are looking for an energy source and earth just fits the bill. The story highlights the fact that appearances can be deceptive as the Axons adopt a beautiful gold form which transfixes their human hosts and undermines their natural hostility and suspicion. The other human trait of greed, particularly when confronted with getting something for nothing, is also highlighted by this story as well as the ruthlessness which humans adopt when trying to get what they want.However, the adage of all that being glitters is not gold holds up when eventually the humans find that they have been sold a pup. Almost too late, they fight to defeat the Axons who have reverted to their natural form with more than a little bit of help from the Doctor.The moral of the story clearly is that we can get by without a little bit of help from our friends (or otherwise).My only complaint about this story is the way in which this, and other third doctor stories, is another one of those 'the biggest threat to the human race than the world has ever seen'. Other than that it is a preety good well worth watching adventure.

This Under rated story is a must have for Who fans, and the special edition is the one to buy!Lots of great on location scenes and a great backing cast make this story!The 3rd Doctor is in prime form with a good story line to pull from!The DVD extras make it even better for long time fans of The Doctor!Worth purchasing, and adding to your Who collection!

One of my favorites of the Pertwee years. The Axons are creepy, the Master fixes the Doctor's Tardis, the plot was good and the threat seemed real. What more could you want. Could it benefit from a George Lucas style effects update? Sure, but the same could be said for any program of the time.

One of my favorite Jon Pertwee stories. The new special edition looks fantastic, definitely worth buying again if you have the old standard edition. The bonus documentary is a nice extra. Great story.

Has an new alien species crashed on Earth asking for help or is it something more sinister? Find out in this fun story for all Who fans! See the Master at maybe his most sinister so far in this season.

10

Always love Dr Who. Glad to see they’re working on digitizing the classic series.

hi i got dr who on the 18 thank you

Pas mon épisode préférer de Three, voir même pour moi l'un des plus ennuyeux.Cela malgré la présence du Master, un master un peu en dessous surement parce que lui même priosnnore d'Axos

Dr Who during the 1970s was one of the shows biggest highlights. Having the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) caught by his own people and forced to regenerate into the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee), plus have two companions Jamie (Fraser Haines) and Zoë (Wendy Padbury) returned to their own time zones and their memories altered to forget the Doctor was a mark of genius forcing the Third Doctor to be exiled to planet Earth.The Claws of Axos was a fabulous adventure from 1971 with all member of the UNIT family demonstrating their great acting abilities to deal with shape shifting menaces (The Axoson) to the greed of various characters from The Master who wants world domination to arrogant, ignorant and self centred Government Minister Mr Chinn who wants Axonite for himself to govern the global economy. Mr Chinn is a stereotypical politician from the 1970s and 1980s who thinks greed is power and he will step over everyone who gets in his way including the Doctor, Jo and UNIT, but his greed is also his greatest weakness as shown in episode four when he and open minded FBI agent Bill Filer discovers what the Axonons are planning.Some reviewers state that the story is slow and boring, I would like to say that rubbish. As I mentioned in previous reviews, both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were always my favourite two doctors. Their adventures were clearly thought out and had very strong storylines to political events that dominates the media during that time period. I hope the BBC bring more of classic Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker Dr Who adventures, such as The Ambassidors of Death (1970), Mind of Evil (1971), Colony in Space (1971), The Daemons (1971) and Terror of the Zygons (1975)(along with Special Edition DVD of 'The Revenge of The Cybermen'),and also use realisitic CGI for Tom Baker's missing 1979 adventure 'Shada'.